Chelmsford police arrest school bus driver

Tuesday

Apr 4, 2017 at 11:21 AMApr 4, 2017 at 11:21 AM

Chief James Spinney has reported that the Chelmsford Police Department arrested a bus driver for operating under the influence of marijuana after a loaded school bus of high school students about to depart on a field trip complained of a strange odor on-board.

Ali Mahfuz, age 63, of Nashua, New Hampshire, was arrested and charged with operating under the influence of drugs, operating negligently as to endanger and reckless endangerment.

Early in the morning on March 18, the Chelmsford Police Department was called by school administrators to investigate after several high school students reported to a teacher that a strange odor was present on the bus they had boarded to go on a field trip. The teacher immediately notified the principal who boarded the bus with other administrators and could clearly smell the odor of marijuana.

The students were taken off the bus and brought to the cafeteria.

Police officers arrived quickly to investigate and determined that the bus driver, identified as Mahfuz, was under the influence of marijuana.

An investigation also determined that while Mahfuz had not driven any of the morning bus routes at the Chelmsford Public Schools on Tuesday, he had just finished a route for Greater Lowell Technical High School before arriving at Chelmsford High School. Chelmsford Police have reached out to the Tyngsborough Police Department, where that school is located.

The bus company, North Reading Transportation Inc., is cooperating with the school department and the Chelmsford Police Department on the investigation. A company supervisor was sent to the scene with a new bus and driver to take the students on their field trip.

Chief Spinney praised the high school students for speaking up.

Mahfuz is being held by the Chelmsford Police Department pending his arraignment later today in Lowell District Court.